The invention relates to a vehicle seat which effects a relative movement of the occupant sitting on it away from a side of the vehicle which faces a lateral impact toward a center of the vehicle during or immediately debore the lateral impact and to a method for controlling the vehicle seat.
DE 3023035 A1, which forms the generic type, discloses a vehicle seat which is suitable for considerably reducing the load on the occupant during a lateral impact. The seat comprises a seat bracket which permits a transverse movement of the seat relative to the seat mount in the vehicle during a lateral impact. The transverse movement can take place by means of a transverse displacement drive, with the result that, if a collision object intrudes into the vehicle, the vehicle occupant undergoes a relative movement away from the intrusion site and toward the center of the vehicle by the transverse movement of the entire seat in the direction of action of the impact. The transverse movement of the seat can be controlled in such a manner that the displacement of the seat is initiated before the forces arising from the intrusion have an effect, the displacement forces and the moment of displacement being adapted to give an optimum protective action.
It is the object of the invention to specify a vehicle seat and a method for controlling the vehicle seat, with which an occupant can be protected to the greatest possible extent by virtue of his displacement during a lateral impact. This object is achieved in respect of the vehicle seat wherein at least one seat cushion can be displaced separately in relation to other seat components and seat fixing elements transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and is achieved in respect of the method by transverse displacement of the seat cushion begins before the moment of collision.
The invention is based on a vehicle seat in a motor vehicle which effects a relative movement of the occupant sitting on it away from the side of the vehicle which faces the impact toward the center of the vehicle during a lateral impact. As an alternative to this, the lateral displacement of the vehicle occupant may also already be initiated before the moment of collision. According to the invention, in order to displace an occupant, rather than the vehicle seat being displaceable as a whole, an individual seat component, in particular a seat cushion, is displaceable transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle independently of the rest of the vehicle seat. It is self-evident that also a plurality of seat cushions may be individually laterally displaceable. It is an advantage of the invention that the mass which is to be accelerated is reduced, this making a smaller displacement unit possible which can be accelerated and braked more rapidly. The constructional space to be kept for the displacement is reduced, since other seat components, for example the seat frame, are not displaced. A further advantage is that a larger displacement distance for an occupant is made possible than is the case if the entire seat is displaced. An additional advantage of a vehicle seat according to the invention is that parts of the vehicle seat which are not displaced, for example a seat frame or a mechanism for displacing the seat longitudinally, can absorb additional deformation energy.